


The Jailbreak

by somewherethatsgreen



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chiaki being a good friend, Fluff and Humor, I wrote this bc I love nagito and it made me sad that they left him in the building ok, Komaeda Nagito's Luck Cycle, M/M, Mentions of Death, Spoilers for Chapters 1 and 2, curry!, grappling hooks?, scene rewrite sorta?, swearing (Hajime says the f word!!)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24052123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somewherethatsgreen/pseuds/somewherethatsgreen
Summary: Hajime would've had somewhat of a normal day if it weren't for Mahiru forcing him to bring the currently tied-up Nagito toast.
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito, really minor peko/fuyuhiko
Comments: 50
Kudos: 354
Collections: Quality Fics





	1. Spicy Curry

With Nagito tied up in the old building, Hajime thought that his day would go smoothly. Maybe he could hang out with Chiaki or Kazuichi today without having to worry about whether or not Nagito was planning another murder. 

Mahiru immediately ruined that by insisting that Hajime go bring him his breakfast, claiming that she had something important to do. And, realizing he was fighting a losing battle, he reluctantly agreed.

After arguing with Monomi for a few minutes over whether or not he was allowed in the building (mentioning that Nagito would starve to death if left alone seemed to do the trick), Hajime found his stomach twisting into knots as his hand shakily turned the door handle to the main room. _Stupid Mahiru. Why don’t_ you _come and talk to Nagito?_

When he finally (and hesitantly) opened the door, Nagito was waiting there, lying on the floor and grinning a huge grin, his face lighting up as soon as he saw Hajime. 

_So they really tied him up, huh?_

There was a part of Hajime that almost didn’t believe it. Sure, Nagito was a little (okay, maybe not just a little), strange, but did he really deserve to be tied up on the floor in some creepy old building? Not to mention that Kazuichi and Nekomaru had forgotten to feed him during the time he’d been there. Then, Hajime recalled the trial, and how Nagito was practically the reason that Byakuya and Teruteru were dead. _Maybe he did deserve it._

Hajime shook his head. There was no time for an inner conflict now, all he had to do was give Nagito his food and leave.

“Could it be…? Did you take time out of your busy day to bring food to little old me?” Nagito had apparently started talking during Hajime’s soliloquizing. Once he realized that the other boy was paying attention again, he continued. “Wow, I’m so happy! As you can see, I can’t exactly greet you with my full hospitality, but feel free to relax!” 

Hajime stared at him. Was he serious? How could he be acting so calm right now? After everything he put everyone through just the other day? When he was lying tied up on the floor?

“Huh? What happened? Your face looks kind of scary.” Nagito remarked innocently, unfazed as ever.

“I didn’t come here to talk to you. I just came to bring you some food.” Hajime snapped, suddenly feeling defensive. “So come on, eat it.”

He shoved the plate in front of Nagito harshly, the toast nearly flying off. Nagito shot him a blank look.

“Huh? You’re not going to feed me?” he asked, his voice sickeningly sweet. Hajime felt the blood rush to his face.

“Wh-what do you mean?” he stammered. 

“Well, I can’t eat it on my own, ya know, since my hands are all tied up.” Nagito singsonged, glancing in the direction of his bound hands. “Actually, I was really embarrassed to ask a girl to feed me, so I’m glad you’re the one who came!”

_Friggin’ Mahiru, man!_

“Anyway, what happened to Mahiru? Did she leave saying she had some ‘business’ to take care of?” 

“Huh?” Hajime snapped back to the present. “Why do you know that?” Nagito ignored him, continuing on.

“By the way, I heard about… _Twilight Syndrome Murder Case_ , was it?” he yawned, his hand twitching behind him, as if instinctively trying to stifle it. “I have mixed feelings. I really liked that game a lot.”  
  
“D-don’t change the subject! I’m asking you-” Hajime started before Nagito cut in again.

“Oh well, I’m a little disappointed,” he began. “It's not like you Ultimates to ignore the threat that's standing right in front of you.” 

For once, Hajime couldn’t find anything to say. Nagito leered up at him.

“So are you really planning not to play the game? Do you think Monokuma will just let that slide?” he sneered, a slight hint of malice in his voice.

Hajime barely stuttered out an answer. Again, Nagito interrupted him.

“You guys should confront it! After all, hope springs when you confront despair!” he chirruped, his voice returning to its normal cheerful tone. Hajime swallowed.

_He’s got a point,_ he thought. _We can’t just keep running from our problems like this!_

Hajime remembered Byakuya’s bloodstained body lying under the table and swiftly shot down the thought. 

“I don’t want to be tricked by you anymore.” Hajime blurted out. “Bye, now.” Nagito’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Uh, hey, Hajime? Weren’t you planning to feed me?” he called out. Hajime ignored him, spinning around and storming towards the door.

_What a fucking waste of my time._

“Heeeyy, Hajime!” Nagito called out again, his voice growing more desperate.

At that moment, Hajime realized that he had two options. He could continue walking out the door and head back to his cabin, hopefully forgetting this conversation ever happened. Someone else could deal with Nagito. (Or, maybe they wouldn’t, seeing as the reason Hajime was even here right now was because those two _idiots_ hadn’t thought their kidnapping plan through.) 

His other option would be to turn around and finish the job. (Feeding him, that is, although, his unspoken third option of killing him didn’t seem too bad at the moment. If only they didn’t have the class trials!) 

“Hajime?” Nagito wasn’t whining anymore. His voice had grown softer, as if he suddenly had realized he might actually be left alone.

_Fuck._ Hajime cursed silently. He slowly pivoted, and immediately was face to face Nagito’s pleading look. He sighed, gingerly padding over to him. Nagito opened his mouth as if to make another comment, but seemed to think better of it, choosing to smile at him instead. 

Hajime sat down next to him, picking up the tray and balancing it on his lap. He reached for the toast.

“I assume you washed your hands already?” Nagito asked, already bored with the silence.

“I scratched my ass with both hands just before I came in here.” Hajime deadpanned. Nagito snorted.

“Would it inconvenience you to wash up before you handle my food, then?” he said. Hajime rolled his eyes

“Ah, just shut up and eat your toast.” Hajime grumbled. Nagito frowned.

“I am serious. Do you not wash your hands before you eat?” he continued. Hajime groaned.

“Fine! I’ll go wash my hands. God, Mahiru was right, you complain too much!” he stood up and walked out the door (intending to return this time). 

Hajime did not notice Nagito’s playful smile as he left the room.

* * *

When Hajime made it back to the main room, he was clean-handed and slightly infuriated with Mahiru. Nagito was still tied up, staring at him expectantly. (Obviously he was still tied up. What else was he expecting?)

“You came back!” Nagito sounded delighted. Hajime took a seat beside him again, placing the tray back in his lap.

“Can you just eat your food?” Hajime grabbed the toast and shoved it towards Nagito’s mouth before he could let out another smart-ass comment. He bit down, chewing quietly for a moment before he opened his mouth again.

“No jam?” he asked mischievously. Hajime let out another exasperated groan and held the toast out again.

“I hate you.”

“Do you really?”

_Crunch._

The two sat in a somewhat comfortable silence for a few moments, save for the sound of Nagito’s ravenous chewing. Hajime felt his heart sink for a moment. _He must be really hungry._

He closed his eyes and saw Teruteru begging for his life as he was whisked away to the deep fryer by Monokuma.

_Could he really forgive Nagito?_

“Hajime.” Nagito said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Hm?”

“Would it trouble you to possibly get me something to drink?” he asked. “I can see that all Mahiru provided me was toast, but my throat is already incredibly scratchy.” 

“Oh, yeah,” Hajime said. Where could he get a cup without leaving the room? Oh, wait. Didn’t he have anything from the vending machines? He reached in his backpack, digging through his weird collection of bojobo dolls, century potpourri, and a Hope’s Peak ring, (seriously, where did they find the stuff that goes in the MonoMono Machine?) before pulling out a bottle of mineral water. “Here you go.”

Nagito’s face lit up.

“Wow! I can’t believe an Ultimate is giving someone like me a gift like this! Truly-”

“Shut up, it’s just mineral water I got from a vending machine.” Hajime grunted. “Here, sit up so you can drink.” Nagito wriggled around for a moment before Hajime realized that his legs were still tied up. 

“Right. Sorry, I forgot.” Hajime muttered, before lifting under Nagito’s arms and leaning his back against his shoulder, quietly noting how light the other was. “Why the hell did they leave you in the middle of the floor?”

“Probably so I couldn’t try to lean up against the wall.” Nagito mused, his tone almost apologetic. 

Hajime reached to give him the water bottle, but immediately remembered his bound hands. There was no way to give him the bottle while he was facing away from him. Nagito seemed to notice this as well, just looking at him with a knowing smirk. Hajime sighed.

“Alright, let’s just get this over with.” Hajime shifted his body so Nagito was leaning against his chest, allowing him to actually be able to guide the water to him. For better or for worse, Nagito remained silent.

_Geez_ , this was awkward. Hajime could barely remember the last time he let a _girl_ be so close to him, let alone some wacko almost-murderer dude he hardly knew. He let Nagito drink about half the bottle before he pulled it away, causing Nagito to let out a surprised “hey!”

“You’ll give yourself a stomach ache if you drink all of it too fast,” Hajime scolded. (He usually reserved his mother hen tendencies for Chiaki, but he supposed he could make an exception for today.) “You can have the rest of it in a couple of minutes.”

“Fine.”

Another silence overcame the two, mostly due to Hajime still refusing to acknowledge the position they both sat in. Suddenly, Nagito piped up.

“You know, I was really craving spicy curry today.” he said.

“Weren’t you the one that asked for toast?”

“Yeah, but that’s because curry isn’t really a breakfast food. Plus, I would hate to bother an Ultimate with such a request from someone as lowly as myself...” he trailed off.

“Nagito...” Hajime began, unsure where he was going with this.

“I was hoping my luck would somehow bring them to me, but it seems that my curry craving caught the bad end of it.”

The bad end? _What the hell was he talking about?_

“What do you mean?” Hajime questioned.

“My luck has always brought me something good to go along with something bad. I was just saying that in today’s case the bad luck was not getting what I actually wanted to eat.” Nagito closed his eyes.

“What was the good luck, then?” Hajime pressed on. Nagito hummed thoughtfully.

“I guess it was you coming here.” he said, smiling. Hajime flushed.

“Oh.”

“Yes, what luck was it that I didn’t have to ask Mahiru to feed me! And, now I get to hang out with such an amazing Ultimate as yourself!” he proclaimed. 

“We’re not-” Hajime stopped himself. They were hanging out, whether Hajime wanted to or not. “Oh God, we’re hanging out.”

“Yes, and all I had to do was sacrifice my spicy curry!” Nagito marveled. “It’s a shame, but I suppose disgusting trash like myself doesn’t deserve such a treat.”

“Stop talking. Here. Water.” Hajime thrust the water bottle back in his face, and he gladly started drinking from it again. “Don’t dehumanize yourself over curry.” Finished, Nagito pulled away from the water bottle.

“Ah, but it’s true.” he said, his voice growing a bit manic. Hajime recognized the tone immediately. It meant that he was about to go on one of his hope rambles, and God be damned if Hajime had to sit through that right now.

“No, it’s not. You know what? Once Kazuichi and Nekomaru agree to untie you, we’ll get you some curry.” Hajime broke in. This seemed to surprise Nagito.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. I could go for curry too.” Hajime admitted. Nagito beamed at him.

“Amazing! Another hang-out session with Hajime! I will be looking forward to it!” Nagito chirped, before his voice grew lower again. “Hajime, I have another favor to ask.”

“What now?” 

“I, uh, have to use the bathroom.” Nagito mumbled. Hajime’s face grew red again.

“I am _not_ helping you do that!” he exclaimed, shoving Nagito off him. He landed on the ground with a soft _thud_.

“Oww…” he groaned. Hajime cringed, immediately feeling guilty. “I wasn’t asking you to help me use the bathroom. I just wanted to know if you could, uh…” 

“If I could what?” Hajime urged.

“Could you possibly untie me?” he finally blurted out.

“No!” Hajime exclaimed. “How do I know you’re not trying to escape? Plus, everyone else would kill me if they found out!”

“Hajime…” Nagito’s voice took on a pleading tone, similar to the one he had when Hajime had almost walked out on him earlier.

“Why can’t you just… go the way you were going before?” Hajime watched as the other boy averted his gaze.

“I haven’t gone since they tied me up.” he chuckled sheepishly. 

“That’s…” Hajime was rendered speechless once again. “That’s pretty bad.”

“I promise you I won’t try to escape, Hajime. You can even stand outside the door if it makes you feel better.” Nagito persisted.

“How can I trust you?” Hajime muttered, a bit more to himself than to Nagito, who just gave him a sad smile. 

“I suppose you can’t, but I really do have to pee.” he said. Hajime wrinkled his nose. _Gross._

“It’s just really risky-” Hajime started.

“Please?” Nagito asked, almost sweetly, craning his head to look Hajime in the eye. Hajime groaned.

“Ugh, fine, but only because I’m not cleaning up your mess if you go on yourself.” he groused.

For a split second, Hajime swore Nagito had a shocked I-can’t-believe-that-worked-look on his face, but it disappeared almost as soon as he noticed.

“Thank you, Hajime! You really are too kind! To even listen to a-” 

“Enough already. Just sit still and be quiet while I untie you.” Hajime paused, noting the metal chains behind his back. Had Nekomaru and Kazuichi handcuffed him? He definitely wasn’t about to ask them for the key.

Hajime crouched over Nagito, seeing that while he was bound by handcuffs, his hands weren’t actually inside of them. No, those two absolute _geniuses_ omitted the entire point of handcuffing someone and opted to tie his hands together with the chain part, the actual handcuffs dangling on the ground next to Nagito. Hajime didn’t know whether to sigh in relief or laugh at their stupidity. 

After fumbling with the chains on his arms and ropes on his legs for a few minutes, Nagito was freed. 

“Alright, you can stand up now.” Hajime said, offering his hand. Nagito grasped onto it, slowly standing up on shaky legs. He wobbled unsteadily for a moment, slightly reminding Hajime of a newborn fawn. The thought of Nagito being compared to something so innocent made him snort.

“Thank you again, Hajime.” Nagito murmured softly, almost sounding genuine.

“Yeah, whatever. Come on.” Hajime still had a firm grip on his hand and pulled him out the door. 

* * *

When they reached the bathroom, Hajime looked Nagito dead in the eye.

“Don’t do anything stupid.” he hissed. The other just nodded, unsure of what to say. Hajime opened the bathroom door and slowly released his hand. Nagito, nonchalant as ever, stumbled into the bathroom.

Hajime’s mind was racing with a million thoughts as he waited for the other boy to finish. Nagito wouldn’t try to escape, there was too much at stake. He was already so weak from not being able to move for two days, he could barely even walk right now. Hajime could easily catch up to him in that scenario. Plus, where would he escape from? There weren’t any windows in the bathroom- oh, God, were there windows in the bathroom?

The sound of a toilet flushing brought Hajime back to reality. He listened for the flow of the water running from the sink to stop, and, soon enough, out stepped Nagito.

“Better?” Hajime asked, opting to grab his wrist this time. The white-haired boy just nodded. “Alright, let’s go tie you up again.”

Hajime silently walked Nagito back to the main room. He immediately staggered over to where he had originally been left and plopped down. Hajime followed him.

“I can do my legs if you want.” Nagito volunteered. Hajime gave him a blank look, not even questioning why he knew how to tie himself up in the first place.

“It’s fine. I can do it.” he replied plainly. Leaning over Nagito, he grabbed the rope and began to carefully tie it around his ankles, ignoring the small pang of guilt in his stomach.

_Guilt?_

Why was he feeling guilty? He had to do this, otherwise Nagito would be walking free and Hajime would get an earful from the other students. He looked over at Nagito, who was staring straight ahead with a blank look. He sighed and began to knot the handcuffs over the other’s wrists in the same manner that Kazuichi and Nekomaru had.

“You don’t have to feel conflicted, you know.” Nagito finally spoke. “It’s my own fault that I’m here.”

Christ, was this guy the Ultimate Mind Reader or something? Or maybe Hajime was just the Ultimate Person-Who-Doesn’t-Know-How-To-Hide-Their-Emotions.

“I don’t, it’s just…” Hajime trailed off, unsure of how he was feeling. “Look, no one deserves to be left on the ground to starve by themselves. Even you.”

“Even me, huh?” Nagito let out a weird raspy laugh. Hajime finished with the chain, taking a step back.

“I wish it didn’t have to be like this.” he said. “It’s just kinda cruel, I guess.” 

“A little bit.” Nagito chuckled again. “Not for me, though. I deserve this. I’m not worthy of even being near you Ultimates-”

“Would you stop that?” Hajime snapped. “You’re an Ultimate, too. You’re no different than the rest of us.”

“If you say so.” Nagito said, obviously not believing it. Hajime just huffed.

“Alright, Nagito. I’m going to leave now.” He stood up, sparing one last glance at him. 

Rather than the Nagito he had just lamely argued with, he saw the Nagito who had been tied up and lying on the ground, lonely and dehydrated and starving for two days because no one thought to take care of him. Had he been scared? Hajime suddenly felt a little queasy.

“Well, thank you for staying with me, Hajime. I had a lovely time!” Nagito was beaming, as if Hajime hadn't just allowed him a tiny bit of freedom before immediately taking it away. 

“I’ll, uh, be back later. To check on you.” Hajime swallowed, turning once again and reaching for the door.

“Oh, you don’t have to-”

_Thud!_

Hajime closed the door behind him, his breathing strangely hitched. _Did all of that really just happen?_

As he walked out the front door, he heard a familiar theme begin to play. He groaned. _Please, not now._

“Hajime!” Monomi stood in front of him, smiling ear to ear.

“What do you want?” Hajime snarled.

“Wow! I’m going to pretend you didn’t start this conversation on a terrible note and continue on talking!” Monomi said, blissfully unbothered by his attitude. Hajime felt the usual irritation that accompanied her presence begin to bubble in his chest. “I just wanted to thank you for feeding Nagito!”

“You said it earlier: if I let him starve, then the blood would be on my hands.” Hajime pointed out dryly.

“Yes, but you were in there talking to him! I’m so glad you two are becoming friends!” she bubbled. Lowering her voice, she added, “Nagito worries me sometimes. He doesn’t seem to get along with the other students!”

“Gee, I wonder why.” Hajime remarked sarcastically. “We’re hardly friends. Wait, how did you even know I was in there talking to him?” Monomi’s button eyes widened.

“I’ll see you later, Hajime!” And with a _poof_ , she was gone, leaving Hajime even more aggravated than before.

_Geez, Mahiru. What did you get me into?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I meant to write a one-shot what-if-Hajime-wasn't-a-butthead-and-actually-didn't-leave-Nagito-starving-on-the-floor scenario but it turned out a bit longer than I expected. I usually don't write multi-chapter fics, so this will be a new experience for me. To be honest, I think there's only going to be one or two more chapters, but who knows! The last fic I wrote was a Naegami fic, and I kept complaining that writing Byakuya was hard. I was NOT prepared for writing Nagito! I had so many instances where I had to go and rewrite lines just because he felt OOC. Still, I am very excited to finish writing this story! ALSO random thought but Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown is totally Nagito's theme song.


	2. Hajime Throws a Pity Party

After returning to his cabin, Hajime lay in his bed, unable to stop thinking about his encounter with Nagito. 

Mostly, he couldn’t get his mind off of the way he ended up leaving him there.

The worst of it all was that Nagito didn’t seem to mind being left to rot on the ground. A part of Hajime wished that he had at least tried to run away once he took the restraints off to bring him to the bathroom, or fight Hajime off when he had bound him up again, but no. Nagito had just let it happen, practically _embraced_ it, even offering to tie his own legs. Why had he given up that easily?

Hajime turned on his side, suddenly engulfed with yet another wave of remorse. He was beginning to regret his decision on not walking out the door the moment Nagito had brought up _Twilight Syndrome Murder Case_. 

His guilt-induced pity party was interrupted by a loud knock on his door. Hajime rolled out of bed, slowly making his way over. He opened it, and found Kazuichi Soda standing in front of him.

“Geez, Hajime! Have you been hiding in here this whole time? I’ve been looking for you all day!” he exclaimed. (Hajime had no idea what “all day” entailed. It wasn’t even noon yet.)

“Sorry, I was a bit tired.” he lied, rubbing his eyes. Kazuichi seemed to believe it.

“Don’t worry about it!” he reassured him. “I came over to see if you wanted to go to the library today!”

“Is Sonia there?” Hajime skipped straight to the point, rolling his eyes slightly as he did so. The other boy’s eyes widened.

“N-no!” he stammered, face growing as pink as his hair. “I don’t know! Who knows? Maybe we’ll bump into her!” 

“Right.” Hajime said, mildly amused.

“Why would you even ask that?” Kazuichi asked, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Because you’re a simp.” Hajime said snidely.

“Whatever! I just don’t understand why two dudes can’t hang out without accusations of a lady of being involved!” Kazuichi complained. Hajime froze, his mind briefly flashing back to the morning, when Nagito claimed his good luck was hanging out with Hajime. 

_Kazuichi and Nekomaru had tied up Nagito and left him alone. He could’ve died. Kazuichi left Nagito to die-_

“I can’t hang out today.” Hajime blurted out. The other boy gave him a strange look. “I don’t feel well.”

“Well, alright,” Kazuichi stated simply, if not a bit awkwardly. “I’ll see you later, then. Feel better?”

“Yeah,” Hajime said. “See ya.”

He closed the door.

To be honest, Hajime couldn’t understand why he had rejected Kazuichi’s offer to hang out. It probably would’ve been nice to take his mind off of things for a while. Plus, it wasn’t like Hajime hadn’t also abandoned Nagito earlier. Didn’t that make him just as bad as Kazuichi and Nekomaru?

Hajime groaned loudly, flopping on his bed and burying his face in his pillow.

* * *

At some point during his mope fest, Hajime had managed to fall asleep. He awoke to yet another knock at his door, albeit this time a bit softer. He crawled out of bed to answer it. 

“Hi, Hajime. Can I come in?” Chiaki stood at his door, her cat-eared hood loosely hanging off the top of her head.

“Yeah, sure.” He stepped aside and allowed the shorter girl to walk inside. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to make sure you were feeling okay. Kazuichi said you were being weird earlier, and I wanted to make sure we didn’t have to get Mikan involved.” she said, ruffling down her skirt. Hajime’s eyes widened.

“No, no. It’s nothing like that. I’m feeling better now.” he said quickly. Chiaki gave him an odd look.

“Is something on your mind, Hajime?” she questioned timidly. Hajime sighed. He supposed he could trust Chiaki.

“It’s Nagito. I’ve been, uh,” he paused, unsure of how to put his feelings into words. “I’ve been worried about him, I guess. Mahiru made me bring him breakfast today, and I guess we were the only ones that checked on him.”

“Oh, I see.” Chiaki nodded.

“You do?” Hajime asked, confused.

“You feel bad for him, right?” she replied, peering up at him through pale pink eyes.

“I guess I do.” Hajime admitted, glancing down at the floor. “But I also feel like I shouldn’t. I mean, Nagito’s crazy! He got Byakuya and Teruteru killed!”

“I don’t blame you, but he’s still just a regular person, like you and me.” Chiaki frowned. “Besides, it’s not like Teruteru was entirely innocent, either. He was going to kill Nagito, after all. He wanted to escape, remember? He was more than willing to let us all die during the class trial. Byakuya just happened to get caught in between.” Hajime blinked, surprised by her sudden perceptiveness.

“I hadn’t really thought about it that way.” he finally admitted, running a hand through his hair. 

“I don’t think anyone has, really. Everyone’s just so quick to…” she trailed off, as if she forgot what she had been talking about. “Nevermind. That’s why we have to stop this killing game. It’s tearing us apart… I think.”

“No, that’s right.” Hajime reassured her. Chiaki tugged on her hoodie sleeves.

“It’s funny you brought Nagito up, actually. I spoke with him right before I came here.” Hajime perked up.

“How is he?” he asked.

“He’s good, or as good as he’s going to get, I think,” she answered. “He was very happy that you brought him food. He even said you fed him.” Hajime’s face heated up at the memory.

“His hands were tied up!” he exclaimed, immediately growing defensive. “I wasn’t just going to make him eat toast off the ground!”

“Uh-huh.” Chiaki smiled knowingly.

“D-don’t look at me like that!” Hajime stuttered out. She let out a small laugh and pulled her hood tightly over her head.

“I was just teasing you.” she said, grinning.

“You’ve got a weird way of doing it.” Hajime grumbled, glaring at the floor.

* * *

Chiaki stayed in his cabin for about half an hour afterward, the two of them mostly just goofing off. _This is nice,_ Hajime thought to himself. _It’s almost as if we’re not trapped in a stuffed animal’s killing game._

Eventually, after convincing him to come eat dinner with her and the rest of the group (minus Fuyuhiko and Nagito, unsurprisingly), Chiaki yawned, complaining that she was tired. Hajime walked her back to her cabin, bid her goodnight, and made his way back to his own. He sat down on his couch, letting out a long sigh as he leaned back. 

Today had been utterly exhausting, although he was glad to have Chiaki with him as a distraction for a while. What was he even worried about?

_Crap, Nagito!_

Hajime shot up from the couch immediately, reeling a bit as he did so. He forgot he’d promised Nagito earlier that he would go see him before the day ended. Maybe there was still time to go?

The sound of Monokuma obnoxiously clearing his throat immediately shot that down.

“ _Ahem._ Hope’s Peak Academy School Trip Executive Committee has an announcement to make…” The monitor in his room had automatically flicked on, revealing the split-toned bear sitting and grinning with a drink in hand. It was nighttime already?

_Shit._

Monkuma finished the announcement, drawling out a loud “gooodniiiiightttt” as the monitor shut off again. Hajime glowered at the screen. God, how he hated that stupid bear.

Maybe he could sneak out quickly and just say goodnight?

He slipped on his shoes and walked towards the door, halting as soon as he drew near. _Was Nagito even worth the trouble?_

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he could hear Chiaki’s soft voice reminding him that he too was human. Something began to stir inside of him.

He wasn’t going to visit Nagito.

_Hajime was going to break him out._

* * *

The plan was simple, really. All Hajime had to do was untie Nagito and bring him back to his cabin. He could deal with his classmates’ complaints in the morning. For now, his scheme made perfect sense.

Hajime left his room, hopefully unnoticed by anyone else, and began his trek towards the old building. (Had it always been this long of a walk?)

Everything was going smoothly, at least until he had heard footsteps heading in his direction.

“Shit!” he cursed quietly, immediately taking cover behind a very conveniently placed shrub. Hajime could only hope that whoever it was didn’t see him crouching. Placing one hand on the ground, he peeked at the person from behind the bush.

It was Fuyuhiko. The smaller boy had just sat down on one of the lounge chairs and was currently staring off into space, facing away from him. Hajime wasn’t insanely far from the hotel lobby. If he could just sneak his way in there without Fuyuhiko noticing, he might be able to wait it out-

Something furry brushed against his leg. Hajime’s heart skipped a beat.

“Gah!” he yelped, tumbling backward and (painfully) landing on his hands.

“Hajime?” A childish voice questioned nervously.

“Monomi!” Hajime whispered loudly, quickly growing more panicked.

“What on earth are you doing out so late? Monokuma’s nighttime announcement- _oomph!_ ” Monomi was suddenly cut off by his hand covering her mouth. He pulled her tightly into his chest.

“Shut up, Monomi! He’ll hear us!” Hajime hissed, ignoring the rabbit’s protests into his hand and rushing inside of the hotel. Nagito’s luck must be rubbing off on him, he thought, because somehow Fuyuhiko hadn’t noticed them despite the absolute racket the stuffed rabbit was currently making. 

Hajime let her go once they had stumbled into the hotel lobby. Monomi, who had been kicking and struggling the entire way, practically flew out his arms, her fluffy face flushed a bright pink. (Wait, how do stuffed animals even blush?)

“Hajime! What the _heck_ was that?” she demanded, placing her hands (or were they paws?) on her hips. “A teacher should never be so physically close to her student! How absolutely _inappropriate!”_

Hajime sighed, before suddenly recalling his favorite trait about the rabbit: she was easy to manipulate.

“I’m sorry, Monomi.” he began, trying to sound as genuine as possible. Monomi’s white ear twitched. “I really wanted to talk to Nagito, but Fuyuhiko is just _so_ mean. I didn’t want him to see me going into the old building. I never meant to hurt your feelings, I swear.” Her face lit up.

“I knew it!” she squealed, twirling with delight. “You are becoming friends with him!” Hajime held in the urge to retch, opting to (uncomfortably) smile instead.

“That’s right!” he grimaced. (He might as well play along, he decided. Maybe she’d be of some use to him?) “Nagito and I are friends! In fact, the reason I was coming to see him was because we were planning on having a sleepover.” he added, praying he didn’t sound like a total idiot right now.

“A sleepover!” Monomi clapped her paws (maybe they _were_ hands?) together. “What fun! Oh, I am _so_ jealous of you kids and your blooming friendships!” Hajime stared at her, dumbfounded. _Did she seriously believe that?_

Oh well, it was too late to back out now.

“Actually, Monomi, I had a question.” he started.

“What is it?” she asked, ears perking up.

“Do you think there’s a way to get Nagito from the old building to the restaurant without Fuyuhiko seeing us?” Hajime kept his voice light and innocent, hoping she’d take the bait again.

“What? I can’t just-” she stopped herself. “I told Kazuichi and Nekomaru that he wouldn’t get out! Why can’t you just have your sleepover in the old building?”

“Because…” Hajime struggled for a second, before quickly thinking up another lie. “Because it’s cold in there and my cabin has blankets!” Monomi nodded, obviously taking this very seriously.

“I see,” she affirmed, rubbing her chin in contemplation. “But I can’t-”

“Please, Monomi?” Hajime pleaded. “How am I supposed to become better friends with Nagito if we can’t even have a sleepover?”

“You’re right,” she sighed. “Who am I to stop the buddings of a brand new friendship?” The rabbit reached in her diaper (Hajime pretended he didn’t see that) and pulled out something metal. “Here, take this.”

“What is it?” Hajime asked, his hand drooping with the sudden weight of whatever Monomi had given him.

“It’s a grappling hook.” Monomi’s face had become solemn, and her voice lowered a bit. “There’s a window on the right side of the old building, all the way at the end. If you get the angle just right, it should hook onto the furthermost restaurant window, and you two should be able to make it inside. Fuyuhiko should be gone by then. He usually goes back to his cabin-” she suddenly cut herself off. “Nevermind!”

“Monomi, have you been spying on us?” Hajime narrowed his eyes, immediately dropping his nice guy act. 

“Gah!” Monomi yelped, visibly sweating. “I’ll see you later, Hajime! Have fun at your slumber party! Looooove, love!” Once again, the stupid rabbit had disappeared into thin air. Hajime grumbled a curse under his breath and pocketed the grappling hook.

* * *

Hajime stood by the door, waiting for a chance to escape and peeking from the tiny window to keep an eye on Fuyuhiko, who was still sitting on a lounge chair by the pool. He was surprised to see a tall, slender figure emerge from the cabins and make its way over to the blonde. Hajime’s breath caught in his throat. Was he about to witness a murder? More importantly, should he try and intervene? His hand reached for the doorknob, only hesitating when he noticed the mystery person take a seat next to Fuyuhiko. Once they were facing his direction, he was quickly able to identify the figure as Peko.

What was she doing out so late, especially with Fuyuhiko? 

Hajime observed intently as Peko ruffled Fuyuhiko’s buzzed hair. Even in the dim lighting, he could tell that the boy was flustered from the way he shook off her hand and glowered in the opposite direction. Peko stifled a laugh. Honestly, the whole scene was kind of cute.

(Maybe he could see why Monomi liked to spy on them so much.)

Once he made sure that the two other students were deep in conversation, he slipped out of the hotel and made his way to the old building.

* * *

The room was pitch black when Hajime entered. He squinted, guessing he hadn’t realized that the only source of light in the room earlier that day was coming from the sunlight streaming through the windows.

“Is someone there?” Nagito called out questioningly, a weird lack of fear in his voice given the situation he was in. “If you want to kill me, let me know now so we can plan-”

“It’s just me, Nagito. God, it’s dark in here!” Hajime complained, feeling around the wall for the light switch. “Why didn’t you let me know earlier?”

“Ah, yes. I should’ve remembered to use my telepathy to tell you that the lights were off while you were gone.” Nagito snarked, just as Hajime’s fingers found the switch. He flicked the lights on, revealing the other’s amused expression.

“Hardy har. I should’ve just not come back.” Hajime grumbled.

“You walked into that one.”

“Fair.”

There was a beat, before the both of them spoke at once.

“So, what brings you back here?” 

“I’m breaking you out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! I hope this update wasn't too weird! My brain while writing this chapter was just like "hey let's give Hajime a grappling hook and call Soda a simp that'd be pretty funny I think." Also, I lied when I said that this fic would only be 2 chapters last time because now I'm looking at 3 or 4! Anyways, thank you for reading! I hope you liked this update! :)


	3. The Grappling Hook

The two stared at each other, Hajime’s face anxious and Nagito’s shocked. For a few moments, neither of them spoke. It was Nagito who eventually broke the silence.

“What?”

“I said I was breaking you out.” Hajime grit his teeth and walked over to Nagito.

“That’s what I thought you said.” Nagito peered up at him. “What makes you want to help lowly scum like me?”

“Stop that,” Hajime grimaced. “You might not be a great person, but you’re still a person, Nagito.”

“What will the others say?” Nagito inquired, although it sounded like he was talking more to himself than to Hajime. “They won’t be very happy-”

“You’re right, they won’t,” Hajime said, squatting down as he began to free Nagito’s legs. “But I don’t really care. They shouldn’t have done this in the first place.”

“What makes you think you can trust me?” Nagito questioned. Hajime, who had just made his way to Nagito’s chained hands, paused.

For the hundredth time that day, he had visions of Byakuya’s lifeless corpse stabbed and bleeding out on the floor, Teruteru crying for his mother right before his execution, the crazed look in Nagito’s eyes as he babbled about the hope and despair he found in the situation.

_Hajime really didn’t trust Nagito._

However, he couldn’t ignore the small part of him that wanted it all to be an act on Nagito’s behalf. For him to jump up and say, “Surprise, it was all a joke! I actually didn’t subconsciously manipulate Teruteru into murder!” 

Hajime thought about the boy he met that very first day when he was passed out on the beach. It was funny. It really had only been four, maybe five days since the two first spoke, but it seemed like a lifetime ago. That day, Nagito had waited patiently by his side in order to make sure that he was okay. When Hajime had chosen to hang out with him after, he was absolutely sure that the two were going to be good friends. He had a comforting air around him, and his calm nature had almost been needed to survive their first few days. 

Where was that boy now? Surely not lying in front of him. There was no warmth radiating from this Nagito’s eyes, only a sort of smug look on his face.

Hajime swallowed. Nagito’s gaze bore into him, terribly expectant of his response. Aside from the guilt that had been eating away at him earlier, the brunette truthfully had no real answer.

So Hajime did what anyone would do: bullshitted his way out of the question.

“I still don’t. ” Hajime replied lamely, finally reaching to untie the other’s bound hands. “I’m only doing this in case you want to kill me in the future, ya know, so you’ll at least feel guilty doing it.” 

“I would never try to kill you, Hajime!” Nagito gasped, as if that of all things had deeply offended him. “I would only kill in the name of hope! There’s no-”

“Shuddup, you’re free,” Hajime let go of the chains. They dropped to the floor with a loud _clank_. “For real, this time.” He offered out his hand again.

Nagito took it gratefully and stood up, teetering in the same fashion that he had earlier when Hajime let him go to the bathroom. He was a little less shaky this time though, probably due to an empty bladder and having a bit of food in him. 

“Follow me.” Hajime ordered, releasing the other teen’s hand. He nodded, compliantly walking behind the brunette as they exited the room.

Sure enough, just as Monomi had told him earlier, there was a window all the way at the end of the old building. Hajime could see the hotel from here, but more importantly, he could spot a large window on the side of the restaurant.

 _Monomi wasn’t lying._ He thought, smiling a bit to himself. 

“Uh, Hajime? What are we doing here?” Nagito asked, sounding confused. Oh, right. Hajime hadn’t told him about him and Monomi’s plan.

“There’s a few people that are up and sitting by the pool right now,” Hajime explained. “I figured we could slip into the restaurant and wait for them to go back to their cabins before I brought you back to yours.” 

“Alright, but how are we supposed to do that?” he questioned again, cocking an eyebrow.

“With this!” Proudly, Hajime whipped out the grappling hook. “Monomi gave it to me. We’re gonna use it to hook onto that window over there and sneak in that way!” The other boy gave him a mildly amused look, before noticing his serious expression. 

“Oh.” Was all Nagito managed to say, before bursting into a fit of giggles. It was nothing like the maniacal laughter he had let out at the first trial. Right now, he sounded like a normal, regular guy. ( _It was almost nice._ Hajime noted, before crushing the thought until it was practically dust.)

“What?” he scowled. “It’ll work.” _I hope._

“Haha, I have no doubt it’ll work, with my luck and all!” The white-haired boy paused contemplatively. “Although my talent might also cause it to snap and for us to crash to the ground. I just don’t understand why we can’t wait in here.”

“I…” Truthfully, Hajime hadn’t thought about that. “Uh… look, Monomi gave me this grappling hook, and I think it’ll be cool, so we’re using it. Got it?”

“Alright, Hajime.” Nagito smiled at him. Hajime did not smile back.

* * *

The grappling hook turned out to be a bit of a struggle. Hajime had only ever really seen them in movies. He never thought he’d see one in real life, let alone have to use it. At first, he tried looking for a button to release the rope portion, but soon realized that he had to manually pull it out since Monomi hadn’t given him a launcher to go along with it.

“Do you want me to help?” Nagito had offered, but Hajime waved him off.

“No, I got it,” he mumbled, tugging the rope until he believed he had a decent amount. “Okay, here goes nothing!” He threw the hook.

It missed.

He pulled it back, trying again.

It missed.

He tried underhanding it, then overhanding it, then (while Nagito ducked away, fearing for his skull) swinging it like a lasso.

It missed every time.

“Stupid thing!” Hajime snapped, chucking it again and tiredly accepting that his forgotten talent wasn’t being the Ultimate Mountain Climber. Nagito peered over his shoulder.

“Can I try?” he asked calmly. Hajime nodded, gruffly handing him the hook.

Nagito casually tossed it.

It hooked onto the window perfectly.

Hajime was dumbstruck.

“I’m the Ultimate Lucky Student, remember?” Nagito grinned again, tugging at the line to make sure it was secured correctly. “Ah, I do hope it’s strong enough to support the both of us.”

“I think we’ll be okay,” Hajime assured him. “If it was made by Monomi or Monokuma, then it’s probably super advanced. Plus, I don’t think Monomi would’ve given it to me if it wasn’t going to be helpful.”

“Ah, but how do you know it wasn’t a trap?” Nagito mused, if not a bit coyly. Hajime glared at him. “Only kidding, of course!”

“Don’t even joke about that,” he muttered. “Here, give me that thing and get on my back.”

Nagito did so, wrapping his arms around his shoulders for support while Hajime tied the excess rope around the both of them.

“I didn’t think I’d be tied up again so soon!” Nagito said cheerfully. Hajime had to restrain himself from shoving him off.

“Alright, now we just climb, I think.” Hajime said, not taking any initiative to start climbing.

“Lead the way, Hajime!” 

_He’s having way too much fun with this._ Hajime silently grouched to himself as he finally reached for the rope.

They began to climb. Rather, Hajime began to climb. Nagito didn’t take his arms off of him, and Hajime didn’t ask him to, mostly in fear that any slight movement would lead to the two of them plummeting to their doom.

_Come on, Hajime. Just one hand, then the other..._

“Is that Fuyuhiko and Peko?” Nagito hummed.

“Are they still sitting there?” Hajime asked, not daring to take his eyes off the window that stood above them. _Almost there…_

“Yup!” Nagito pronounced. “What an odd pairing! Although, I guess it’s not that strange if you think about it…”

“Nagito?”

“Yes?”

“ _Please_ stop talking.” 

“Sorry, Hajime! You shouldn’t have to listen to garbage like me!”

“That’s not the issue right now.” Hajime stated, unclenching his jaw and letting out a sigh of relief as they finally pulled up to the window. He grasped the windowsill and climbed upwards, causing the two to crash to the floor loudly. 

“Holy shit,” Hajime muttered, a bit out of breath. “We did it.”

“Yeah, we did.” Nagito breathed into his ear. Realizing that the other was still on top of him, Hajime flushed a bright red and scrambled to untie their rope. Once they were freed, Nagito let go of him and slid off. They both stood up.

“Now what?” Nagito asked, straightening out his oversized jacket.

“Now we wait.” Hajime responded firmly.

“Would you mind if I made myself some dinner, then? I know I don’t deserve it, but I can’t help but feel a bit hungry still, with all I’ve had to eat being toast and all.” The former sounded as if he were asking for permission. Hajime waved him off.

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t care,” he said, before quickly remembering their conversation from earlier. “Oh wait, you wanted curry, right? Let’s make that.”

“Really?” Nagito’s eyes widened. “You’d make food with someone as inferior as me?”

“I told you I would earlier, right?” Hajime said. “Besides, we have some time to kill while we wait for Fuyuhiko and Peko to go back to their rooms. Might as well not waste it if you’re hungry.”

“You’re too kind, Hajime!” Nagito beamed.

“Let’s just go to the kitchen” he said, rolling his eyes.

* * *

Hajime immediately regretted going to the kitchen.

In the five minutes that he and Nagito had been there literally just taking out ingredients, pots and pans had been strewn about on the floor, random vegetables littered the counters, and spice bottles laid all over the place. Even though they technically hadn’t started, Nagito had already proven himself to be a horrible cook. Hajime was just thankful nothing had spilled-

“ _Gah!_ ” Nagito yelped, eyes widening in terror as he backed away from the table he’d been standing by. Hajime rushed to his side.

“Are you okay?” he asked, wondering what had spooked Nagito so bad. The taller looked at him, his eyes still filled with fear.

“I spilled the salt shaker.” he whispered. Hajime pinched the bridge of his nose.

“That’s it?” he asked, a tinge of exasperation in his voice. Nagito threw him another bewildered look.

“Hajime, my talent is _luck._ ” His tone grew a bit more manic. “I can’t imagine how much bad fortune this could possibly bring to us!”

“Are you talking about that old wive’s tale?” Hajime questioned. Nagito nodded. “That stuff’s not real. Also, didn’t you say earlier that good luck always follows your bad luck? Maybe something good will happen.” Nagito shook his head.

“No, the salt is a prediction of bad luck. It means it hasn’t happened yet, but it’s coming soon.” he said.

“Uh, okay,” Hajime said plainly, unsure of what he meant. “Don’t you just have to throw it over your shoulder or something? I think I read that in a book once.” Nagito’s eyes widened again.

“You’re absolutely right, just as expected of an Ultimate!” he shouted excitedly, causing the other to flinch at the sudden outburst. “Here, you take some too! Just throw it over your left shoulder!” Nagito scooped some of the spilled salt up and handed it to Hajime. The brunette cupped it in his hands and followed Nagito as they both tossed it behind them. He glanced at the scattered grains of salt that now sat on the floor.

“We should probably clean that up.” Hajime said.

“I’ll get the broom.” Nagito replied, walking to the corner of the room and grabbing the broom handle. He began to sweep the floor around them, eventually working his way to the table where the saltshaker lay knocked over, making sure to clean up the remnants of his original mess as well. Meanwhile, Hajime dug through the freezer, pulling out two cardboard boxes.

“Is it alright if I just heat up this microwavable curry?” he asked. “It’s faster than making it from scratch. Plus, we can sit in the restaurant while we wait to prevent more, uh, mishaps.”

“You’re right. We probably shouldn’t be around all these knives anyways,” Nagito chuckled, waving his right hand. “Don’t want to accidentally cut one of our fingers off!”

“You know, for someone who’s constantly asking people to kill you, you’re awfully paranoid about getting hurt.” Hajime said, rolling his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for the shorter update, but hey, at least we're getting to the good part, right? This chapter was honestly so fun to write, although I did get distracted for an hour watching grappling hook parkour videos when I was trying to figure out how they worked. I also tried to sneak in the fact that Nagito was a terrible cook because of that one scene in Ultra Despair Girls where he made the Warriors of Hope milkshakes with sugar and lard. Honestly, that's gotta be the funniest thing he's ever done. Also, I think Cherry and Lucky Ones by Lana Del Rey are good Komahina songs.


	4. Hajime Burns the Curry

“I still find it hard to believe that you freed me.”

“Can you stop instigating for once?” Hajime responded, glaring at him.

The two had settled down at one of the tables in the restaurant. They’d been sitting across from each other for a few minutes without speaking until Nagito (per usual) broke the silence.

“Not even Chiaki or Monomi would untie me when they came in.” Nagito pressed on, ignoring his complaint.

“Did you ask them to?”

“No, but I didn’t ask you to, either.”

“Yes, you did! When you wanted to use the bathroom-“

“I was talking about untying me just now.”

“I…” Hajime trailed off.

“It’s just strange that you were the one to let me go. A bit concerning, even.” The white-haired boy smiled, although his true emotions remained as unreadable as ever. “How would you know that I wasn’t planning to kill you after you untied me?”

“Would you cut that out?” Hajime finally snapped. “I knew you weren’t gonna try anything because you would’ve done it when I let you go to the bathroom.” Nagito’s face lit up.

“Right as usual, Hajime! Not that I’d expect anything less from someone like you!” he closed his eyes, a pleased look on his face. Hajime furrowed his brows, attempting to form a response to the other’s weird logic. His thinking was interrupted by beeping from the kitchen.

“There’s our curry.” he said dumbly. (Geez, did he always sound this stupid?)

“Do you want me to get it?” Nagito offered. Hajime shook his head, remembering their brief stint in the kitchen earlier.

“No, it’s fine. I got it.” he replied, stepping away from the table and heading towards the kitchen.

When he walked in, the first thing he did was rush over to the back counter to stop the incessant wailing of the microwave. (If Fuyuhiko wasn’t able to tell that the two were in here when they’d chosen to climb in the restaurant via grappling hook like total weirdos, he sure as hell would figure it out from this _goddamn beeping._ ) However, upon opening the microwave, he was greeted by billows of smoke blowing into his face.

“What the-” he began, starting to cough. “How did it burn?”

He was answered by a menacing _boom_ of thunder.

“Seriously?” Hajime complained loudly, grabbing an oven mitt to pull the two smoking bowls out of the microwave. 

_Great._ _We’re going to have to wait in here even longer now._

This time, the storm responded to him by _pitter-pattering_ harder on the window. He set the bowls on the counter and opened a drawer, shoving two spoons in his pockets. He glanced at the fridge. Should he grab something for them to drink as well?

“Hey Nagito, do you want something to drink?”

No answer.

He rolled his eyes, pouring two glasses of orange juice anyways. If Nagito didn’t want it, Hajime supposed he could drink his cup too.

Oven mitt still on his hand, he headed back into the restaurant where Nagito sat, wobbling a bit as he tried to balance the hot dishes in one hand and glasses in the other.

“I brought you some juice-” he began, stopping as soon as he saw Nagito.

The teen was practically pulling out his hair, staring down at the table with something Hajime had never seen on him before- a genuinely fearful expression. 

“Nagito?” he asked cautiously, placing the bowls and cups down. “Are you okay?”

“Ah, Hajime, I apologize. I didn’t see you come in.” 

_He’s avoiding the question._

“Is something wrong?” Hajime asked again, removing the oven mitt and sliding down in his seat. Nagito shook his head.

“I’m just not a fan of storms, that’s all.” 

Oh, right. His student profile on the E-Handbook did mention loud noises as one of his dislikes.

“Well, now you know my terrible secret,” Nagito said, his voice airy. “Perhaps you could use this to your advantage? You could always pick me up and throw me out the window in my weak state, and no one would even know it was you.” 

“Stop.” Hajime pleaded, and for once, he did. “Hey, be careful with your hair.” 

“Hm?” Nagito’s eyes grew bigger, and he quickly let go of his fistfuls of hair. “Sorry, sometimes I don’t even realize I’m doing it. You shouldn’t waste your time fretting over me, though!” His cheerful tone had returned, causing Hajime to frown.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” he said. When Nagito seemingly ignored his question, he continued. “You know you can, uh, talk to me, right?”

“Of course I know that! We’re speaking right now!” he said, waving his hand. Hajime narrowed his eyes.

“Nagito…”

Hajime knew the Ultimate Lucky Student was definitely complicated, sure, but he really wasn’t expecting him to have built up so many walls. It wasn’t like he was super secretive about how he was feeling most of the time, especially how he felt about himself. What was he trying so hard to hide?

“Please, I want to help you.” he said finally, looking him dead in the eye as he did so. 

“I was in a plane crash as a child,” Nagito said curtly, glancing down. “A meteor came out of nowhere and split the plane in half, and, if I’m being completely honest, loud noises remind me of how it sounded. That’s all there is to it, really.” 

Hajime froze, a bit surprised at the other’s usually upbeat demeanor slipping.

“I honestly don’t know why I just told you that,” Nagito shifted in his seat, even more visibly uncomfortable than before. “I’m sorry for making you listen to someone like me.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Hajime said quickly. “Um, I’m sorry that happened to you. That must have been terrible.” (Was that the appropriate response for when you force someone to open up about their trauma? Hajime wasn’t sure.) “Though, it’s good to talk about it sometimes, ya know?”

“Heh, I suppose.” Another flash of lightning lit up the room, shortly trailed by the intimidating rumble of thunder. Nagito’s hands gripped his jacket, harshly scrunching and tugging the corners. 

“Let’s change the subject,” Hajime said quickly. “Hey, did you know that my biggest fear is spiders?”

“Spiders?” Nagito blinked. “Ah, sorry. I just didn’t take you for the arachnophobic type.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Hajime countered, slightly offended. Nagito chuckled.

“I didn’t mean it as an insult. It’s just that you’ve been so, well, _hopeful_ , through the dangers we have been facing.” The brunette rolled his eyes.

“It always comes back to hope, doesn’t it?” he said. “Besides, there wouldn’t have been any danger if you hadn’t messed with Teruteru or tried to kill anyone.” Nagito’s plain expression did not falter.

“Ah, Hajime, I thought you knew that wasn’t entirely my plan.” he sighed as if he were disappointed. 

“What do you mean?” Hajime felt as if the two were going in circles. 

“I wasn’t intending to kill anyone that night, aside from myself, of course,” Nagito said, a bit bored, as if he didn’t just casually drop his suicide mission to the other. “Why did you think I told Teruteru what I was doing? Even someone as dull as me knows that would potentially mess up my plan. I wanted him to kill me, so I could be a stepping stone for hope without sacrificing any of you Ultimates!” 

“You sound absolutely insane right now,” Hajime blurted out. When the other didn’t respond, he continued. “You didn’t need to sacrifice yourself.”

“But hope always follows despair! Imagine the hope that will eventually be born out of this situation! ” Nagito’s eyes shone as he spoke. “It’s just like my luck!”

“Right,” Hajime swallowed, still bewildered by the white-haired boy’s words. “Well, can you use your luck to get us off this island?”

“I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that.” Nagito said, shaking his head.

“It was worth a shot, I guess,” Hajime said. He glanced down at the table, realizing that their food had been sitting there, untouched. “Oh, maybe we should eat. The curry has probably cooled down by now.” He placed the spoons from his pocket on the table and pushed a bowl towards Nagito. 

“Thank you, Hajime!” he said, grabbing a spoon. “I’m sorry for burning it, though I wasn’t aware that microwaved curry was something that could get burned.”

“It’s my fault, not yours,” the brunette said, briefly wondering when he grew so patient and beginning to eat as well. “I should’ve put it in for less time.”

“Yes, but my talent-“ He was cut off by Hajime throwing him a glare. “Ah, nevermind.” 

They ate in a semi-comfortable silence for the next few minutes, though Hajime could tell that Nagito was still a bit panicked from the thunderstorm just from the way his hands shook as he brought his spoon to his lips. Hajime took a final sip of his juice, contemplating on whether or not he should begin another conversation before deciding to remain quiet. 

“We really smoked out this place, huh?” Nagito hummed after a while.

“I know. It’s gonna smell like burnt food for days.” Hajime replied, placing his spoon down. 

“Are you done?” the other teen questioned, gesturing at his empty bowl. “I can clean up, if you’d like.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “If you’re still not feeling well, you don’t have to-“

“No, I love cleaning!” he insisted, getting up and grabbing their dirty tableware. “You could come with me if you’d like. Don’t worry, I’m not plotting another murder this time.” 

“Not funny.” Hajime grunted as he stood up and followed the taller teen to the kitchen.

* * *

Washing the dishes ended up being more of a headache-inducing task than Hajime had intended, mostly because Nagito kept shooing him away from the sink when he tried to help.

“Hajime, please, I appreciate the offer, but it’s just a few plates and utensils.” he said, lightly scrubbing a bowl with a sponge. Hajime pressed his lips into a thin line.

“Yes, but I’m the one who made the food, so technically I should be the one cleaning the dishes.” he retorted, reaching over him to grab a dirty spoon. Nagito nudged his hand away.

“I’m the one who made you cook it.” he shot back.

“You didn’t make me do anything. I offered to make it for you.” Hajime snatched the now clean bowl from Nagito and placed it on the drying rack.

“You still made me food!” 

“I literally just put it in the microwave for you. It’s not rocket science.” Both spoons made their way to the basket of the drying rack.

“Well, I’m more than happy to serve an Ultimate!” Nagito’s scrubbing had grown a bit more aggressive, scattering small bubbles from the dish soap on the counter.

“Don’t give me that crap again.” The sponge landed in the sink with a _plop._

“It’s too late, anyway.” Nagito held up the final bowl, ignoring the water droplets that dripped onto the floor. He placed it carefully behind the other bowl on the drying rack, then stepped back as if to admire his handiwork. “You put the spoons the wrong way!”

“What?” Hajime stared at the rack. The spoons were standing handle-up. “Don’t tell me you put them the other way-”  
The corners of Nagito’s mouth tugged upwards in a tiny smirk. Hajime glared at him.

“Quit messing with me!” he said, his cheeks growing red. Nagito laughed.

“Sorry, Hajime.” he said, raising his hand. The other teen rolled his eyes.

“We should check if Peko and Fuyuhiko are still outside.” he said, suddenly reminded of why they were here in the first place.

“Alright,” Nagito agreed. “Let’s go look out the window.”

* * *

After peeking out the window, they found the chairs that Fuyuhiko and Peko had previously inhabited were empty.

“Looks like they’ve gone back to their cabins.” Hajime noted. Nagito didn’t seem like he was paying much attention.

“The Ultimate Swordswoman and the Ultimate Yakuza…” he pondered aloud. “I wonder what business they had together that they had to meet at such a late hour. Perhaps it had something to do with the motive?”

“Shut up about the motive,” Hajime said, slightly annoyed. “We all agreed that we weren’t going to play the game.” Nagito sighed.

“You’re so trusting, Hajime.” he stated plainly, as if talking to a toddler. The other bristled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s not a bad thing! I’m just saying that I wouldn’t be too surprised if someone already broke that agreement.” Nagito said.

“...” As much as Hajime hated to admit it, he had a point. It wouldn’t be too out of character for someone as, well, _uncooperative_ as Fuyuhiko seemed to be to ignore everything they said.

“But you shouldn’t take anything I say too seriously! After all, I’m sure you Ultimates know way more than idiotic trash like me!” Nagito exclaimed, raising a hand. Hajime blinked, feeling himself grow a bit more frustrated. 

_Is he trying to mess with me again? I don’t understand him at all!_

“It looks like the storm’s cleared up, too,” he said, deciding to pay no mind to whatever the other was saying. “We should probably get going.”

“I’m ready when you are, Hajime!” Nagito smiled widely. 

“Just… come on.” he grumbled, heading towards the door with the other boy in tow.

* * *

Without all of the creeping around that Hajime had attempted to do earlier, the walk back to their cabins was less tiresome than he expected it to be. (Less being the keyword, as Nagito was currently babbling on about a mouse he had seen in the old building earlier.)

“At first, I thought it was one of Gundham’s hamsters, but then I saw its tail. It also had brown fur that was sticking up in some spots! In a way, it reminded me of you, Hajime!”

Hajime, who was not feeling particularly enthusiastic at being compared to a rodent, just hummed in response. Nagito seemed to notice this.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I must be boring you to death. If you would like me to stop talking, just let me know. You could even tie me up again if-” He cut himself off with a small cry as he tumbled over seemingly nothing. Hajime spun around.

“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out his hand. Nagito did not take it, opting to place his palms on the ground and push himself upwards. “What did you even trip over?”

“Probably just a rock or something,” he brushed the dirt off his pants. “Don’t worry, I figured it wouldn’t be long until something like this happened.”

“Because of your luck, right?” the brunette said. Nagito nodded, not saying anything more. 

The two resumed walking, a comfortable silence growing between the pair by the time they had reached the cottages. Although Hajime’s room technically came before Nagito’s, he continued walking past it. 

_It’s to make sure he doesn’t run off and try to kill someone._ The brunette told himself halfheartedly. _Though, I’m not sure if he would at this point._ He glanced over at Byakuya’s old cabin, which was wedged right between his and Nagito’s and acting as an uncomfortable reminder to why they were sneaking around in the first place. They stopped once they reached Nagito’s porch, staring blankly at each other for a moment, as if unsure of what the other's next move was. Hajime cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry that it stormed tonight,” he said awkwardly. “And that I burnt the curry. Oh, and that you tripped on the way here.”

“Are you kidding me?” Nagito grabbed the other boy’s wrists, his eyes twinkling. “Tonight was the most fun I’ve had in ages! In fact, I don’t think I’d be surprised if I dropped dead tomorrow!”

“What do you even-” Hajime stopped himself, already knowing that he wouldn’t get a comprehensible answer. “Nevermind. Also, don’t do that.”

“That’s up for Lady Luck to decide.” The white-haired boy smiled wistfully for a moment, before glancing down at his fingers that were still clinging onto the Hajime’s arm. He let go just as quickly. “Ah, I’m so sorry! To even think-”

“Nagito.”

“-that some disgusting maggot like me would even-

“Nagito.”

“-touch your arm like that is unspeak-”

“Nagito!” Hajime finally snapped, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him a bit. Nagito stiffened. 

“I was rambling again, wasn’t I? My apologies.” He gave him a sheepish smile.

“Rambling is one word for it.” Hajime scoffed. He released the taller boy from his grip and stepped backward. “Well, uh, I guess this is it for tonight.”

“I suppose it is,” Nagito said. “Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you back to your cottage? It’s awfully late, and I wouldn’t want you-”

“I’m fine, really,” Hajime smiled softly at the other’s concern in spite of himself. “My cottage is only one door down, remember? You could watch me walk there if you wanted to.”

“Okay,” he agreed, unlocking his door. He turned to face Hajime again. “Goodnight, Hajime! Thank you again for tonight. I don’t know how I could ever repay you-”

“You don’t need to.” he sighed. “That’s what friends are for, right?” The other teen’s jaw dropped.

“Friends?”

“Yeah, friends.” Hajime glanced down at his feet for a moment before turning around. “Goodnight, Nagito.”

He walked the few feet to his cabin (his steps were a bit quicker than they would have been in the daylight, with it being nighttime after all) and opened the door. Before he stepped inside, though, he gave one last look in Nagito’s direction. The teen was still standing on his porch, waving as soon as they made eye contact. Hajime waved back at him, before shutting the door behind him and trying to ignore the weird fluttering in his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, uh hi? It's been a while! I'm so sorry this chapter is like 3 months late!! Around May I got super busy with school assignments and scholarship applications and I had to put this story on the backburner for a bit. Anyways, this is it! The last chapter! I also wrote a mini epilogue, but I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to post it because it kinda doesn't make sense within the context of the story. Oh, and while I was finishing this chapter, I realized that I made a small mistake in the actual game timeline. I thought Hajime played the motive the day after everything happened with Nagito, but turns out he did it the night of. For the sake of the story, let's just pretend he played it after he freed Nagito haha. Thank you to everyone who read, left kudos, or commented on my story! It literally makes my day whenever people interact with my fics! I appreciate all of you, and I'll maybe see you later if I decide to post the epilogue!! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I meant to write a one-shot what-if-Hajime-wasn't-a-butthead-and-actually-didn't-leave-Nagito-starving-on-the-floor scenario but it turned out a bit longer than I expected. I usually don't write multi-chapter fics, so this will be a new experience for me. To be honest, I think there's only going to be one or two more chapters, but who knows! The last fic I wrote was a Naegami fic, and I kept complaining that writing Byakuya was hard. I was NOT prepared for writing Nagito! I had so many instances where I had to go and rewrite lines just because he felt OOC. Still, I am very excited to finish writing this story! ALSO random thought but Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown is totally Nagito's theme song.


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